Mazda6 sedan — less zoom-zoom, more room-room

Mazda’s “zoom-zoom” marketing slogan is all over the place — it even morphs into graphics on the company’s Web site, with shards of black or white ripping off into the sunset, with racy cars not far behind.

All of which belies nothing about the new 2009 Mazda6 four-door sedan, which is many things; but zoom-zoom is not one of them.

To understand Mazda’s use of this not-to-be-underestimated slogan, you have to have a feel for Mazda as something of a daring company, possibly the only one in the world to currently use a Wankel rotary engine in a mass-produced car (the RX-8 four-door sports car.)

It’s a gutsy outfit and it’s had flops (the first RX rotary series back in the early 1970s didn’t work out too well) and insane hits (the Miata/MX-5.)

To me, however, bread-and-butter sedans are kind of hit-and-miss at Mazda.

MazdaUSA

The elliptical headlights are a highlight of the Mazda6′s smooth design.

I just spent a week driving the 6-series top of the line, the Grand Touring model.

It came with the 2.5-liter four-banger and Mazda’s slick six-speed stick shift (yes, they do know to use racing-related technology.) The motor turns out 170 horses and, if you’re in the mood for more, you could opt for the 3.7-liter V6 with 272 horsepower. The four-cylinder was fine, particularly since most traffic in urban America lolls along at sub-sensational speeds these days.

On the outside, the new-look sedan is crisp and sharp, with slightly angular lines that show Mazda’s inherent company motif for making things that go fast. The car looks anything but stodgy.

On the inside, the big improvement over the previous generation is the 6′s increase in space — the interior gains five percent more room for a total of 101 cubic feet. And the trunk, at more than 16 cubic feet is bigger than those in the rest of its class.

It’s that class — or the competition in that class — that brings the Mazda6 more into perspective. Here are the major players in this crowded playground of the midsize sedans: the two leaders, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, followed by, in no particular order, VW Passat, Hyundai Sonata, Chevrolet Malibu and Nissan Altima. They all range from about $20,000 to around $30,000. Very competitive field, since these are the main run of sedans in U.S. sales.

They are all pretty close in fuel mileage figures — the four-cylinder cars are in the 20-city/30-highway MPG range; and the six-cylinder models are usually about one to four MPG behind them. So gas mileage is, for most, not the biggest arbiter in this class. If you want gas-sippers, head for the small hybrids (or, in a year or two, plug-in hybrids or full, battery electrics.)

No, the point here is that Mazda has to compete with companies whose cars have the edge on interior appointments, a slight advantage on seat comfort or noise levels. Overall, these may sound like subtle things but they count for a lot when you realize that people spend hours and hours in their cars. They want them to be comfy and they want them to look nice, even expensive.

The Mazda6 is okay inside, but just okay. There’s a slightly cheap feel to the dashboard material and a kind of careless feel to the way things are put together. None of this is glaring — in the modern age, man and machine are building cars a lot better than they were 30 or 40 years ago. But it is noticeable. The inside of the Altima I had a few weeks ago just felt better, looked nicer.

Mazda, being a driver’s outfit, has made the 6 go quickly and corner well and stop when it’s told to. On the other hand, there are touches you don’t find on other cars — I liked the outside mirrors’ blind-spot warning system, in which little yellow lights in the mirrors blink madly at you when a car is creeping up on your right or left.

In the end, though, I thought that if I was going to spend nearly $30,000 on this middle-road kind of sedan, I’d sure shop around a little more, get a taste of the rest of the class, before making a decision.